


Time and Unforeseen Occurrence

by MyBoyBuildsCoffins



Category: Mass Effect
Genre: F/M, Indoctrination Theory, Insomnia, Paranoia, What's that buzzing noise???, indoctrination
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-16
Updated: 2017-04-16
Packaged: 2018-10-19 13:50:58
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 964
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10641144
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MyBoyBuildsCoffins/pseuds/MyBoyBuildsCoffins
Summary: Sejal Shepard has been feeling increasingly strange ever since she awoke in ME2. As the voices she hears grow more distinct and her hold on reality slips, she decides to seek help before its too late.





	

Sejal's mismatched blue and green eyes shot open in the dark of her cabin. She licked her lips and rolled onto her side where she didn't have to look at the skylight that looked out into the great void.

That skylight that had been placed right above her bed.

Her bed that she slept in.

The bed in which, while she was sleeping, it was entirely probable that she would roll onto her back and then wake, eye to eye with the very same sort of scenery that she had enjoyed as she succumbed to hypoxia, ebullism, hypocapnia- the whole spacing extravaganza. (While she had to admit that it was a very intellectually enlightening experience, she  _really_ didn't enjoy reliving it a few times a night.) She'd told The Illusive Man about it and he'd covered his mouth with both hands, his glowing eyes widened and they stared at each other in the conference room until finally he uttered,

"Oh, fuck, Sejal... No one told the architect. My apologies,  _I_ didn't tell the architect."

Sejal, of course, forgave him, and they had a good laugh over it. It more than perturbed the crew, especially Miranda, that she and Jack got on so well. He said it was quite rare to find somebody who managed to enrage the council as much as he did and Shepard thought that he made quite a valid point. They had gotten so buddy-buddy that she openly referred to him as her Dark Prince which, once again, horrified Miranda but Sejal figured that if she couldn't find a way to laugh about her situation she'd just as soon cry about it and...

_What's that buzzing sound again?_

It came and went, different from the standard tinnitus most humans experienced from time to time, it was... tangible somehow, just on the periphery of physical feeling, as if it were just a few hertz away from making her brain rattle. She squeezed her eyes shut and drew her knees to her chest, trying to dispel the wretched sound. Occasionally, she discovered, she was able to put a stop to the noise especially if she were listening to someone else, but mercifully the buzzing ceased.

She sat up and went rifling through her bedside table for her dream journal, looking through the recent entries. Her brows furrowed slightly as she realized that a _very_ __distinct pattern was emerging:

    _Monday- Back on Mindoir, no batarians, (interesting change) everyone is going about as normal except they're funky, watery shadows and no matter how much I try to get their attention, I am completely ignored. Freud would have a field day with this._

_Tuesday - I'm lying on a lab table and Thane is dissecting me. ( ~~Kinky!~~ Worrying.) He removes my left lung, holds it up, and proclaims "Ah, the liver." I sit up, correct him, and then lie back down, it is only now that I am aware of the shadows crowding the room behind him. This time they are accompanied by indistinct muttering that seems (and I am acutely aware of this in the dream) to be more of an internalized disturbance than external ambiance. _

_Wednesday- No dreams recalled._

_Thursday-_ _I'm sitting on a crate while Ashley sits on the floor and I'm brushing her hair, which is suddenly very long, with my hairbrush. I'm humming but it is merely screeching, off-key playing on a violin that escapes my lips. I try to remark on this to Ash but when she turns back to face me I can very clearly hear her neck *snap.* As we stare at each other she begins to putrefy under my gaze and I realize that she is dead. I am still holding onto her hair that somehow slips free of her scalp, causing her to tumble to the floor and at once a myriad of insects appear and begin to devour her. I stand, horrified (Still holding her freshly-peeled scalp) and am face to face with yet another watery shadow-man. He laughs and takes the scalp from me, eats it, puts his index and middle fingers into his mouth and inserts them into mine. I am thoroughly disturbed._

_Friday-_

She thought hard about it but no dreams resurfaced, a strange but acutely felt relief. She reported a hasty "No dreams recalled." and laid back down, ready to sleep again. She rolled onto her stomach, nuzzled into her pillows, and closed her eyes.

Then it was back. That incessant, grating, reverberating buzzzzzzzzzzz. She snarled in frustration and got out of bed, pacing back and fourth across the floor. This is when the buzzing became an actual problem rather than a mild inconvenience. Her will was to no avail, the buzzing only grew louder. She pushed her forehead up against the fish tank and enjoyed the sudden coolness.

The room was suddenly far too hot.

"EDI, decrease the temperature in here by...like four degrees." Sejal groused with closed eyes, still leaning on the tank.

"Decreasing ambient temperature by 3.5 degrees."

Sejal stood upright again, "EDI, I said  _four_ degrees." 

"You said  _like_ four degrees, Shepard." She deadpanned.

"Ugh, shut up." Sejal was unsure at this point if she was bitching at EDI or the buzzing.

"Would you like me to adjust-" 

"No, no. This is fine, I'm sorry." She ran a hand through her chocolate-colored mane.

"It's quite alright, Shepard." 

Sejal resumed her pacing. What the hell was that noise? She considered seeing Dr. Chakwas about it but figured that the good doctor had more important things to deal with and so did Mordin. But usually the buzzing didn't care to stick around in regular conversation. 

She lifted her head slightly "EDI, is Thane up?" 

"He is, Shepard."

Well, now she knew who she was going to talk to.


End file.
